The May/June P&R contained case-studies, written by activists – from Michigan, Louisiana, New York and California – illustrating successful use of demographic data in community environmental struggles. The two articles below, by academics working in this area, provide a more general discussion of the issue.
July/August 1996 issue of Poverty & Race
The May/June P&R is a first – a guest-edited issue. It originated in a query from one of our grantees, Kary Moss of the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice: why didn’t we pay greater attention to the issue of environmental justice? That elicited a Hartman-to-Moss missive: why don’t you put such an issue together? Happliy, she agreed, and we actually have a two-fer, focussing on the use of demographic information in community environmental struggles. In this issue are four case-studies of successful fights by low-income minority communities (in Michigan, New York, California and Louisiana) against environmental hazards; the July-August issue will follow this with two articles (by Stuart Batterman/Yu-Li Huang and Bunyan Bryant of the University of Michigan) on more general methodological and political considerations in fighting for environmental justice.
We hope this background tale will not discourage others from suggesting topics for us to cover. We welcome your input.
– Chester Hartman, Executive Director
- “Race and Poverty Data as a Tool in the Struggle for Environmental Justice” by Kary L. Moss
- “Analysis of Racially Disparate Impacts in the Siting of Environmental Hazards” by Thomas J. Henderson, David S. Bailey & Selena Mendy
- “The Streets, the Courts, the Legislature and the Press: Where Environmental Struggles Happen” by Rachel Godsil
- “The Truth Won’t Set You Free (But It Might Make the Evening News): The Use of Demographic Information in Struggles for Envirnmental Justice in California” by Luke W. Cole
Herewith Part II of our series on Environmental Justice, guest-edited by Kary Moss of the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice. The May/June P&R contained four case-studies, written by activists – from Michigan, Louisiana, New York and California – illustrating successful use of demographic data in community environmental struggles. The two articles below, by academics working in this area, provide a more general discussion of the issue.
